SCB anoints new Digital Ventures head

SCB anoints new Digital Ventures head

Siam Commercial Bank (SCB) has appointed Orapong Thien-Ngern, former chief executive of Microsoft Thailand, to succeed Digital Ventures head Thana Thienachariya, who has been promoted to chief marketing officer.

The appointments will take effect on May 1.

The chief marketing officer position is a new role set up to facilitate the greater role of marketing in the banking business, said SCB chief executive and president Arthid Nanthawithaya.

Digital Ventures is the bank's venture arm incorporated to invest in financial technology firms as the industry is shifting towards digitisation, he said.

The venture firm has already invested half of its initial funding of US$50 million in both fintech mutual funds and joint venture firms.

Orapong: Will take up new role on May 1

Mr Arthid separately said the SCB Transformation programme has continued to make progress, particularly in terms of the system's infrastructure upgrade.

The bank plans to roll out a pilot project applying big data analytics in new operational practices during the second quarter, while the full scheme is expected to be unveiled in the final quarter of this year.

With the big data analytics, the new operational practices will be implemented through both offline and online channels.

Apart from big data analytics, the country's third largest lender by assets will thoroughly reclassify its existing 14 million customers in a bid to offer financial products and services to meet demand, Mr Arthid said.

The bank also plans to launch new features for its mobile banking platform during the second quarter. The new features will complement several lifestyle categories including shopping, dining, beauty, healthcare and medical care. Those features are intended to attract mobile users and help the bank grow its customer base.

"We can't say that such lifestyle mobile banking features will disrupt those apps available in the market right now. But with SCB's reputation, it will boost consumer confidence in using the bank's mobile app," he said.

SCB also aims to raise its penetration in some spheres, particularly wealth management, an area where the bank lags its peers.

The bank will continue to improve its existing branch services to meet customer demand in each location. Under the plan, some counter services will be replaced by machines.

SCB closed on April 12 on the Stock Exchange of Thailand at 165 baht, up 50 satang, in trade worth 793 million baht.

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